Mechanisms which either for purely functional reasons or for safety reasons require irreversibility of their operation, unless they are intentionally operated in one direction of rotation or the other, are known and used. This is the case for example with mechanisms for raising and lowering windows in vehicles, in which in order to prevent accidental opening it is a basic requirement that the raising and lowering of the window should be able to be controlled solely and exclusively by an operator through operation of an appropriate crank.
Nevertheless, some of the mechanisms used up to the present time for this purpose have the disadvantage of being excessively complicated so that they are expensive, and the disadvantage of being ineffective in practice and easily opened by unauthorized persons of average skill. Other known mechanisms are constantly breaking down due to their simplicity.